Important advantages have been found in soil preparation, and seed and fertilizer delivery in employing no-tilling or minimum tilling methods which cause minimum disturbance to the soil. This is particularly important in dry land conditions where the soil is subject to moisture and topsoil loss if conventional tilling methods are used.
It is usually desirable when employing no-till farming practices to disturb the soil surface as little as possible. The surface will be covered with the residue from previous crops, and the surface layer will contain old root structure. This plant material can serve to retain moisture below the surface and to assist in securing the soil against runoff and erosion. Particularly in dry land conditions it is beneficial to retain this covering. Tools available to seed into zero till or minimum till conditions have encountered problems.
Fertilizing prior to seeding is a method utilized by some farmers. While broadcasting the fertilizer on the surface is a method that does not disturb the surface, it is very inefficient, as much of the fertilizer can be lost due to runoff surface water. Placement of fertilizer at a level well below the level that seed will be place has been utilized. Tilling and fertilizing is disclosed in Great Britain patent No. 1,574,412 issued to Ede in 1980. In that prior art device an angled tilling blade for deeply penetrating the soil is shown with a central duct and a number of separated orifices for providing fertilizer in vertically separated bands. To maintain those desirable characteristics of the surface structure in zero till conditions major surface disturbance is not acceptable.
Zero till devices have been developed to deposit high concentration bands of fertilizer in furrows. If the seed is placed in close proximity to a high concentration of fertilizer, burning of the newly germinated plant will result. To avoid this one technique has been to separate the seeds by a soil layer from the fertilizer.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,851 issued to Beau jot in 1995 fertilizer is deposited by a first vertical blade which cuts a deeper furrow. A second blade cuts a second furrow in which to deposit seed. Other devices such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,151 issued to Rodrigues in 1989 form a deep fertilizer furrow, and a shallower shelf above the fertilizer on which to plant the seed. In both cases, to minimize soil disturbance only a narrow furrow is cut. It is grown to prepare soil when using traditional tilling methods to cut out weed growth prior to or at the time of a seeding operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,085,825 issued in 1914 to Rubarth discloses a subsurface tilling blade for use with a traditional turning plowshare. The tilling blade its curved to angle the cut and includes a horizontal blade on the opposite side. The blades are shown to include an arrangement in overlapping fashion to cut the full width of the subsurface to remove weeds and old growth. Seeding and fertilizing are separate operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,497 issued in 1991 to Kolskog discloses a deep banding knife for delivering seed and fertilizer with an additional transverse rod for disrupting weed growth. The banding knife makes a substantially vertical cut in the soil. The rod disrupts the subsoil to loosen soil and cut weeds. The transverse rods can be arranged in parallel to remove weeds completely.
Adaptations of these concepts have been used for deep placement of fertilizer in fully tilled row-crop situations.
In traditional zero till farming practice, no till furrows are separated by undisturbed areas of soil and weeds. Typically a herbicide application is necessary to control weeds which would otherwise compete with the crop growth and possibly contaminate the harvest. Herbicide is an expensive additional operation.
A further problem encountered by seeding implements particularly in zero till conditions is the accumulation of trash during seeding which impairs their operation. Many devices for seeding in zero till conditions provide a blade which penetrates the soil substantially vertically. Trash gathers around the blade and is dragged with the device. This can impair operation. It also removes the desired moisture retaining cover. In an effort to combat this problem the Beau jot discussed above is adapted to lift over obstacles, such as crop stubble, interrupting seeding. Such a technique reduces trash accumulation, but reduces seeding efficiency.
A deep sowing tool has been disclosed for rice seeding in relatively wet conditions in USSR patent No. 372,962 issued in 1973 using a tilling blade and deep seed delivery to cover seeds and to reduce the need to water. This is not suitable for zero tilling, as tilling using this tool is deep in order to cause deep soil aeration. The blade of this prior art design penetrates the soil essentially vertically, with an angled blade portion cutting more deeply. The blade portion of this design would also be subject to accumulation of trash.
Significant soil disruption occurs as vertical furrow parting tools are drawn through surface soils at relatively high velocity, especially in high trash conditions or with unprepared soils. Additional energy is imparted to the soil, throwing and turning the soil.
It is desired for minimum soil disruption to pass through the soil surface and any trash cleanly without undue lifting or turning of the soil. While disk openers have the ability to cut through most trash, some straw will not cut easily, and is pushed into the furrow, a result commonly called hairpinning. This can displace seeds, as well as drying out the seed bed. As well, effective no-till disc opener designs are relatively expensive.
The prior art fails to provide teaching to or a suggestion of any method or device for operation in zero or min-till conditions which provides tilling and/or seeding, fertilizing or weed clearing in a single pass without significantly disrupting the soil or the order of the soil structure and avoid hairpinning. It is desired to provide the advantages of tilling seeding and weed clearing without trash accumulation.